On writing quickly

And why some people don't like it

I have a both a very structured and a very fuzzy approach to writing. I learned about the perms ‘plotter and pantster’ in the now defunct NaNoWriMo, and in many ways I am neither. I’m somewhere in between.

At the ideas stage of writing, which I love dearly, I am a fuzzy mess of broken sleep and staring into the distance as the story forms. I know from many years of experience, this stage, which is largely invisible to others, last a long time for me. I might write some notes in my inevitable new notebook or even my phone notes app, but usually I develop the world and partly formed characters in my mind.

The next stage is plotting I do this by sellotaping pieces of A4 paper together and drawing a lot of lines in pencil, bot vertical and horizontal, to represent chapters, story, lining connected elements in strands, save the cat plot points, POV, tense and more. Then I fill it in in with almost unintelligible scribble straight from my imagination that will often not be the final story.

The next stage is writing the novel. I aim for 80000 words initially, is around 40 chapters. But this changes too.

I am in a writing group called London Writers Salon. I joined in lockdown as they have three writing hours online, 8am, 1pm and 4pm on weekdays and this is how I structure my writing. I often do more than one session per day when I am writing a novel and I often write outside these hours, mostly in the mornings when I get up.

On Wednesdays, LWS have a ‘mingle’ where they go into breakout rooms. This is a brilliant way to learn about other writers’ lives and their experiences and I have met some wonderful people. But when I say I am a novelist, one question in particular comes up.

How long does it take you to write a full novel?

At first I would go ahead and eagerly share that it, if I love a story and I am invested, it takes me two to three months to write the first draft. Over time, I detected a sucking in of lips and rolling of eyes, and once, audible scoffing. It was puzzling because I know other novelists who write fast but eventually, I came across someone who questioned my apparently surprisingly speedy creativity.

In one mingle, someone asked me the question again and I answered.

‘Two to three months for the witing, but…’

I had learned to qualify it by this point, because of the visible disapproval not just in this group but in real life too. But I didn’t get chance this time.

‘Ah. You write commercial fiction then.’

It was a statement not a question. I do write commercial fiction, and on purpose, because I enjoy it. But I have also had my novels reviewed in the Literary Review, and had short stories, which I also wrote fast, published in literary anthologies. I took her up on it.

‘I do write commercial fiction. I love witing thrillers. But I’m writing upmarket feminist literary fiction at the moment. Book club stuff.’

She nodded. The other two Zoomers looked a but uncomfortable.

‘But that will take longer to write, won’t it?’

I was bemused. I write at the speed I write at. I think it comes from wanting to ‘download the story’ and edit later. I tried this to appease her.

‘No, I just write fast.’

She smiled and shook her head.

‘You see, I’ve been working on my novel for three years now. I write a sentence and go over it. Good sentences. That’s what’s important. Good writing.’

I let it go. The implication that if you write fast it’s not good writing came across loud and clear. I queried a few other people who had pulled disproving faces over the next few months when the question came up, and this was the pervading opinion amongst them - good writing needs to be done slowly. One person went on about ‘pile’em high and sell ‘em cheap’ for ages as it it was somehow the author who chose the publishing price point, and because a novel was 99p it must have been written at lightening speed!

I don’t know if my writing is good or bad, and I’m not fishing for praise. It’s clearly OK enough to be published and get sales, so my conclusion is that people, me in particular, can write at different speeds and still produce good work.

The stages of writing a novel are many. Ideas, plotting, writing, editing, proofreading and probably some I have missed out because different people do it different ways. Writing is ‘the bit in the middle’ for me, when the time spent thinking finally gets onto the page.

I love the idea of taking a long time to write something, musing over it and perfecting it as you go along, but I can’t do it. I have tried, but I love writing fast and living in the world of the novel completely. I am a method writer, which, like method acting, requires me to really feel the character I am writing in first person present or past. It’s how I like to do it.

That’s the weird and wonderful thing about creativity - there are as many ways as there are people to do it. So use writing books and lessons and groups as guide (I love Save the Cat but, again, opinions on this vary - I will save for another substack!) but be yourself. Pour yourself into your writing so you can really feel it. Go at your own speed, and don’t feel guilty at if other people do it quicker, slower or very differently.

When you story is finished, whatever speed you write it at, it will be a unique creation in the world like no other.

And that’s all that really matters.